COVID-19-Induced Acute Laryngitis: A Case Series

Objectives: The objective of this study is to present a novel clinical manifestation of COVID-19 with characteristic endoscopic laryngeal findings. A group of patients who reported similar symptoms, displayed akin laryngoscopic features, and received appropriate treatment is analyzed. Endoscopic images are provided and the pattern of this entity is discussed.

Study design: This single-center descriptive analysis of a case series was performed in the General Hospital of Volos (Greece), during a 6-month period (from April 2022 to September 2022). Twenty-three patients who suffered from COVID-19 and were simultaneously diagnosed with acute laryngitis were enrolled.

Methods: Demographic data, clinical and endoscopic findings, laboratory results, and treatment courses were recorded. Descriptive statistics were performed with the statistical package SPSS (IBM Corp. Released 2017. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.).

Results: The majority of the patients were male and fully vaccinated, as defined by Greek legislation at the time. None of them was a smoker. All patients were infected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 for the first time and presented with acute odynophagia. The characteristic endoscopic finding was an erythematous larynx with white undetachable lesions mainly in the supraglottic area. Pooling of saliva in the pyriform fossae was an independent predicting factor for patients' hospitalization (P < 0.001). None of the patients required intubation or tracheostomy and all responded to the systemic treatment with corticosteroids and antibiotics.

Conclusions: COVID-19-induced laryngitis should be considered in any patient with positive COVID-19 who complains of acute odynophagia. Fiberoptic laryngoscopy is necessary to confirm the diagnosis. In our series, timely initiation of treatment minimized the need to secure the airway and ensured a favorable prognosis.